Eren woke up the next day and it was evening already. His eyes were heavy and he felt exhausted.
'Aaargh! My back hurts. My balls ache. And my dick feels like it would fall off.'
The butcher checked on his condition and concluded. Then had used too much mana in his session with Nina and he didn't have any ranking technique yet to actively refill his mana storage. So he relied more on passive mana harnessing now.
He was still in the living room when he awoke. Nina had kept the apothecary closed so there was no need for him to go back to his room again.
There was no array-generated spectral environment anymore when he looked around. He got up from his bed and spread his mana sense. Nina was absent.
Eren found Nina's note by the dining table. She had cooked him a hearty meal before leaving for her work. She had told him in the note that she'd take a few days to return.
The note was burned in Eren's hand before he started to have his meal. He also had some work at the city of Laurel where Agatha was currently waiting for him.
'I need to hurry to the city of Laurel too. Need to wrap all my affairs in the Duchy of Lionhearts before entering the Nightshade Duchy.'
Eren thought as he decided to catch up on some reading while having his food. Taking a worn-out book from his storage, he opened it up using its bookmark.
This was JJ Edgar's journal that he had obtained from the cultist hideout he had looted. He started reading the contents of the books as he took a bite out of his first roasted chicken leg.
"Demi-humans. What were they? Why did they vanish from the continent from Anfang completely? Are they extinct for real? Or are some of them still hiding somewhere?
My interest in the demi-humans has been piqued from the moment I discovered that demi-human skeleton. I feel that…"
Eren kept on reading and found out that Edgar was used to making and noting down a lot of conjectures. They may or may not be relevant to the butcher anymore. So he decided to speed-read the contents to save time.
My helping hands have discovered another bunch of old documents scattered about this wretched kingdom. They shed light on the era before Anfang's redacted history, if only in a small way.
I have to admit that I had been using the wrong term to describe the entities that have fascinated me. I now understand that demi-human is more of a general term. They were referred to as half-bloods in the past.
The half-blood rankers were able to pass their bloodline powers to their progeny– enabling them to establish half-blood clans. It seems that they were a force to be reckoned with in their era.
The house of Samael has been mentioned multiple times in these documents. Their bloodline's powers remain a mystery to me. But it seems it was one of the strongest half-blood clans in existence."
Eren was stunned as he continued reading. The rest of the parts about House of Samael were Edgar's conjectures so he would have to take them with a grain of salt. But it seemed that Eliza wasn't lying when she said that her clan was special in her era.
Eren flipped a few pages and kept on reading.
"Mutagen. The component of the blood that allows the half-bloods to tap into their bloodline powers. But what is mutagen at its core?
My research into this field has been refined, thanks to my experiments and my extensive reading. It has allowed me to form a hypothesis that is based on a lot of research-oriented data.
Mutagen is, in my opinion, a key to unlocking pre-established innate spells bound by nature itself. The key was given to the mana beasts first. But someone down the line found a way to get it for humankind as well. Thus, the half-bloods were born.
One particular thing about the human species is that it doesn't have its innate spell by birth. A pure human bloodline doesn't have any key that can unlock any pre-established spell. But surprisingly or unsurprisingly, it can act as an ideal host for one.
With this key, the half-bloods can acquire their innate spells faster than normal humans obtain their inherent spells. The time with which they turn their innate spell into their abilities should also be mind-boggling when compared to normal rankers.
The key also helps the half-blood progress faster in the way of the elements because it contains the very secrets of the element the mutagen is compatible with. I can now see how this might have been seen as an unfair advantage by normal human rankers."
Eren had come to realize that a lot of this Edgar fellow's conjectures were right on point. He applauded the guy internally as he had his third chicken leg and kept on reading.
"It seems that the house of Samael was once a normal pioneering clan who had gotten their hands on the bloodline of some mythical creature. Since then, they have become a half-blood clan. Its research into mutagens was further enhanced after obtaining the bloodline.
Several documents hint at the calamity that took place even before the redaction of history. It seems that the house of Samael was in charge of coming up with methods to aid all the rankers of that time in dealing with the calamity at hand."
Eren finished another roasted chicken leg and cleaned his hands with the napkin placed beside him. He then lit up his Sativa stick before pondering over what he had read so far.
'Hmm. Know thy mummified enemy!
I need to learn more about this tragedy. But since even this Edgar fellow couldn't find much about it, I might have a hard time just scratching the surface.
If only I could get my hands on the rest of Edgar's journals. Or perhaps meet him in a friendly manner, if he is alive that is.'
Eren thought to himself. Then shook his head negatively.
'Naah. He would be a high-ranking entity even if he is alive if I'm not wrong. Why would he help me?'
The butcher finished reading Edgar's journal.
"Heh! This House of Samael was made up of a bunch of visionary rankers."
